Erbil – For the first time since the beginning of the Iraq crisis in December 2013, the number of people returning to their area of origin has surpassed the number of people displaced in the country.

Over the past four years, the country has been deeply affected by the conflict with ISIL, which led to the displacement of nearly six million people. Prime Minister Abadi announced Iraq’s victory over ISIL on 9 December 2017; by the end of 2017 IOM, the UN Migration Agency, identified 3.2 million people, who have returned back to their place of origin, while a staggering 2.6 million remained displaced.

Following the improvement of the security situation in retaken areas, a sizable number of internally displaced Iraqis have returned to their location of origin, mainly to the Governorates of Anbar (38 per cent; more than 1.2 million people), Ninewa (30 per cent; nearly 975,000 people), and Salah al-Din (14 per cent; nearly 460,000 people). These three governorates were the worst affected by ISIL’s occupation, and count for 86 per cent of the current displaced population in the country.

Shortly after the operation to retake Mosul was launched in October 2016, IOM Iraq constructed two emergency displacement sites, one in Haj Ali and one in Qayara, with combined capacity of sheltering 110,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs). The sites were constructed in partnership with the Government’s Ministry of Migration and Displacement; both sites are located in the southeast of Ninewa governorate.

The sites are still sheltering more than 71,000 internally displaced persons, who receive relief kits, medical services and psychosocial support from IOM, and a variety of other services from other humanitarian partners.

Intra-Governorate returns of internally displaced persons account for 55 per cent of returnees; this has been a common trend across the most affected Governorates and is likely to continue as the number of displaced people remains high. In fact, the most significant concentration of IDPs is currently in Ninewa (57 per cent) with an intra-governorate internally displaced people population of 97 per cent.

“Iraqis who remain displaced are among the most vulnerable, as they face obstacles to return, including damage or destruction of their home and local infrastructure, financial limitations and other constraints,” said Gerard Waite, IOM Iraq Chief of Mission.

Studies by IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) that analyse displacement and return movements of conflict-affected people across Iraq and investigate the factors limiting the displaced people’s willingness to return to their place of origin include the Integrated Location Assessment (December 2017) and Obstacles to Return in Retaken Areas of Iraq (June 2017).

Iraqi returnee families in the village of Wana, west of Mosul city, who returned to the village after it was retaken from ISIL, take away non-food item (NFI) kits that they received from IOM. Photo: Raber Aziz / UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2017

Iraqi returnee families in the village of Wana, west of Mosul city, who returned to the village after it was retaken from ISIL, take away non-food item (NFI) kits that they received from IOM. Photo: Raber Aziz / UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2017

Children stand by the gate of the village school in Al Mirbat, south west of Kirkuk, where IOM provided mobile medical teams provided primary health care services and medication to support the returnees. Photo: Raber Aziz / UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2017

Garowe – The newly renovated Garowe International Airport opened its doors on 8 January in the capital of Puntland state, Somalia. The airport had been closed since 2013 and now aims to make Garowe a hub for international travel.

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, supported the renovation efforts led by the Puntland authorities, in full coordination with the federal government and international partners.

“A well established and functioning airport in Garowe is a step in the right direction towards the vision of secure and humane migration within, from, and to Puntland and the greater Somalia,” said Dyane Epstein, IOM Somalia Chief of Mission during the opening ceremony. “With the concerted efforts of all dedicated stakeholders, including those present here today, I believe that we can look forward with optimism,” she added.

The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo attended the event. Other government representatives present included the President of Puntland State, Vice President of Puntland State, the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation of the Federal Government of Somalia, the Deputy Minister of Aviation and Airports of Puntland State and federal and state directors. Also present were representatives from the EU, World Bank and the UN, as well as government delegations from Ethiopia and Turkey.

Equipment and furnishings to support the smooth functioning of the airport was donated to the Government through the generous funding of the EU under the Better Migration Management (BMM) Programme, which aims to strengthen immigration and border management capacities. Additionally, IOM’s support for the airport through the BMM programme will increase capacities in data management, reception of passengers and queue management.

“The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Airports commends the dedicated collaboration between the Puntland Government, the Federal Government of Somalia and our international partners including UN members such as the UN Migration Agency for ensuring successful re-operationalization of Garowe Airport,” said Suad Salah Nurm, Deputy Minister of Civil Aviation and airport.

With the support of IOM, Garowe International Airport will be able to collect passenger information using the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS), IOM’s border management information system. This information is critical to a well-functional border management, as migration trends can be analysed by immigration authorities to improve services and inform policy. MIDAS is operational in over 19 countries globally, with its largest presence in Somalia.

BMM is funded by the EU Trust Fund for Africa and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and coordinated through the German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH (GIZ). It aims to improve migration management to reduce the trafficking and smuggling of migrants, within and from the Horn of Africa. IOM is one of the implementing partners within the programme.

Amman – This week, IOM, the UN Migration Agency, and its partner NICCOD, a Japanese Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), distributed cash assistance to 1,500 Syrian female headed households or families having at least one member living with disabilities in Zarqa, Jordan.

Two vouchers totalling 70 Jordanian Dinars (JD) are being distributed to every family to purchase food and other essential items. This distribution is in addition to the winterization and regular assistance provided by other NGOs and UN agencies to these refugee families.

“I will buy with the vouchers, olive oil, sugar and rice,” said Aisha, a refugee from Deraa living in Zarqa since 2013. “We are seven at home: two daughters, four sons and me. Only one of them works; and one of them is sick, so this assistance is very useful for us. We face a lot of challenges to pay our bills, and during winter the house is very cold and humid, so we spend more on heating,” said Aisha.

Bringing assistance to vulnerable refugees and their families is an integral part of a one year IOM project funded by the Government of Japan. The Ambassador of Japan to Jordan Hidenao Yanagi, conducted on 10 January a field visit to NICCOD’s Center in Zarqa accompanied by Enrico Ponziani, IOM Jordan’s Chief of Mission. The visit allowed Ambassador Yanagi to monitor the progress of the refugees’ assistance activity, as well as meet families at the distribution point.

“Even though it has been seven years since the onset of the Syrian crisis, vulnerable Syrian refugees in Jordan are still facing very severe situations especially during the harsh winter season when the most vulnerable face greater worries and difficulties in daily survival,” stated Ambassador Yanagi. “Therefore, the Government of Japan provided its support for IOM to deliver this most needed assistance to vulnerable Syrians in Zarqa,” he concluded.

In 2017, the Government of Japan extended a grant of over USD 600,000 to IOM to provide humanitarian support to Syrian refugees in Jordan.

“The support of the Government of Japan has been fundamental during the last years to bring assistance to the Syrian refugees and to back the efforts of the Government of Jordan in responding to the Syria crisis,” said Ponziani. “We are also glad to collaborate with Japanese NGOs particularly NICCOD in implementing this distribution,” he added.

Libya – Since the beginning of the crisis in 2011, insecurity has been rampant in southern Libya and, as in many crises, young people and children are among the worst affected. To provide safer and accessible public spaces for young people and children to play in, IOM, the UN Migration Agency, has built three football pitches in the Sabha and Al Qatroun districts.

The chronically instable situation in southern Libya is compounded by intercommunal conflict, among other major challenges such as shortages of basic services, lack of rule of law and collapsed institutions. Through local meetings, communities in Sabha and Qatroun raised the need to IOM for public spaces where young people can safely practice sports regardless of their ethnic background. They hoped that playing together might also improve relations between different ethnic groups. Recreation spaces also be a great asset for psychosocial support to conflict affected youth, while also helping contribute to combatting radicalization.

In answer to this request, the development of recreational public spaces began and was closely coordinated with and supported by the community representatives, local authorities and Councils to which IOM handed over the playgrounds. The construction of the pitches by three local construction companies, supported by the European Union and the Government of Germany, was completed at the start of January 2018.

“Communities in our neighbourhood are excited by this new facility, especially the children,” said Omar Mohammed Almelka, CMC member and representative of Alkarama area in Sabha, where one of the pitches was built. “IOM is the first agency to take on a project like this in the area and we hope the support continues with other projects that benefit our communities,” added Almelka.

Football is one of the most popular sports in Libya but most neighbourhoods in Sabha and Qatroun districts lack sports facilities. For example, young people in Tayouri in Sabha, including Tibu (ethnic group), Tuareg (ethnic group), internally displaced persons and migrants, used to be forced to travel long distances on highly insecurity routes through areas still heavily affected by the ongoing conflict to reach the closest sports club. Now, more than 5,000 young people are able to enjoy a game of football safely close to where they live on the three new pitches.

“It is now our duty as the local communities to work together to protect this facility for our future generations; we should take care of it as it belongs to all communities around Sabha and not exclusively to the Tayouri neighbourhood,” said Shoaieb Musa, a civil society activist in Tayouri neighbourhood present during the handover ceremony of the football pitch to community.

Over the course of 2017, IOM organized sport activities and tournaments in recreational centres and schools. Some 1,500 children aged between 10 and 17 years participated in sports tournaments in 2017 and 15 schools were rehabilitated and two recreational centres were built by IOM.

In May 2017, IOM, in cooperation with local stakeholders, also organized a peace festival in southern Libya, in which different tribes, along with internally displaced persons and migrants, celebrated unity and peaceful coexistence.

Building upon last year’s activities, 2018 will see an increasing focus on youth engagement and social events targeted to them with the aim of bringing together various tribes, families and backgrounds in support of community cohesion and stability in southern Libya.

The UN Migration Agency (IOM) builds three football pitches in Sabha and Al Qatroun districts in Libya to provide safer and accessible public spaces for young people and children to play in. Photo: UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2018

The UN Migration Agency (IOM) builds three football pitches in Sabha and Al Qatroun districts in Libya to provide safer and accessible public spaces for young people and children to play in. Photo: UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2018

The UN Migration Agency (IOM) builds three football pitches in Sabha and Al Qatroun districts in Libya to provide safer and accessible public spaces for young people and children to play in. Photo: UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2018

The UN Migration Agency (IOM) builds three football pitches in Sabha and Al Qatroun districts in Libya to provide safer and accessible public spaces for young people and children to play in. Photo: UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2018

The UN Migration Agency (IOM) builds three football pitches in Sabha and Al Qatroun districts in Libya to provide safer and accessible public spaces for young people and children to play in. Photo: UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2018

Ulaanbaatar – Senior government officials, representatives of relevant line ministries, civil society partners and international agencies met in Ulaanbaatar on Wednesday (10/1) to discuss the challenges facing implementation of Mongolia’s National Action Plan (NAP) to combat human trafficking.

Trafficking in persons is a major concern in Mongolia, which the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report 2017 describes as “a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking.” It categorizes Mongolia as “a Tier 2 country that does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, but is making significant efforts to do so.”

The TIP report points to the continued development of the mining industry in the south of the country. That has led to an increase in internal and international migration, increasing the risk of trafficking, particularly along the China-Mongolian border. Increasing their vulnerability to exploitation, truck drivers transporting coal across the border often have their passports confiscated as collateral for their vehicles. Young women are also at risk of being exploited in prostitution by drivers waiting to cross the border.

The annual consultative meeting, which was co-funded by the European Union’s European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), is part of a project run by the UN Migration Agency, IOM, with local project partners, the Mongolian Gender and Equity Centre (MGEC) and End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT).

Vice Minister of Justice and Home Affairs and Head of the Anti-Trafficking Sub-Council Battumur Enkhbayar told delegates: “Strengthened cooperation among stakeholders, including community participation, is key to success in combating human trafficking. Today’s meeting is one of the examples how we closely cooperate with international agencies in protecting victims and preventing this kind of crime. As a result of today’s meeting, we should openly discuss challenges and collectively find solutions.”

The workshop provided recommendations for more efficient NAP implementation. These will be endorsed by the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs and then shared with government departments, law enforcement agencies, civil society organizations and the general public.

Agencies represented at the meeting included the Ministries of Foreign Affairs; Justice and Home Affairs; Labour and Social Welfare; the Anti-Trafficking Sub-Council; Border Protection Agency; Immigration Agency; National Police Agency; National Intelligence Agency; National Agency for Family, Youth and Child Development; State Prosecution Office; Law Enforcement Academy; State Specialized Inspection Agency; Supreme Court Council; National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia; Child and Family Development Centers from nine districts; Umnugobi and Dornogobi provinces, ECPAT; MGEC; ILO, Asia Foundation and Talita Asia.

Tripoli – The Libyan Coast Guard reported Wednesday that up to 100 migrants remain missing in the third deadly shipwreck on the Mediterranean Sea since Saturday. Now, barely a week into the New Year there already are reports of close to 200 migrants or refugees dead or missing on the Central Mediterranean route.

By contrast, IOM recorded just 26 migrant deaths on the Mediterranean Sea lanes during the just-ended month of December 2017, at a time when Mediterranean migrants deaths were dropping sharply. January 2017, for example, had witnessed some 254 deaths. Now, this week’s reports suggest that 2018’s start may be even deadlier.

IOM reported on Tuesday 09 January that a total of 81 Mediterranean Sea deaths of migrants or refugees were recorded in the first eight days of the year. Five of those deaths were in Western Mediterranean waters off Spain and Morocco. The rest – 76 with a possibility of many more – were recorded in the waters between Italy and Libya.

In the latest incident for this year, on Tuesday 9 January, three rubber boats with 279 migrants (19 women, 243 men, 13 boys and four girls) were rescued by the Libyan Coast Guard (Watch video), whose rescue operation lasted at least 12 hours.

Reuters spoke to survivors who say that about 50 people who had boarded the boats now are missing, while Libya’s Coast Guard stated in a press release it believes that number might be as high as 100.

According to survivors’ testimony, around 100 migrants remain missing. IOM, the UN Migration Agency, was present at their disembarkation point in Tripoli and provided food and water to all survivors.

IOM’s Christine Petré reported that the boats departed from near the Libyan coastal towns of Azzawiyah and Al Khums. The majority of the survivors came from African countries including The Gambia, Senegal, Sudan, Mali, and Nigeria. The Libyan Cost Guard reported that eight survivors are from Bangladesh (one woman) while two are from Pakistan.

“It’s very distressing that during the first 10 days of 2018 we have seen close to 800 migrants rescued or intercepted off the Libyan coast with more lives lost at sea,” said Othman Belbeisi, IOM Libya Chief of Mission. “More has to be done to reduce irregular unsafe movements of people along the Central Mediterranean route.”

IOM continues today to provide support and direct humanitarian assistance to the survivors of this latest tragedy, many of whom now are at Libya’s Tajoura detention centre.

Geneva – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, reports that 1,072 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea during the first week of 2018, with around 450 each landing in Italy and Greece and the remainder in Spain. This compares with almost an identical number – 1,159 – coming ashore during a similar period in 2017.

Data on deaths at sea, however, are much grimmer. Through the first eight days of the new year, a total of 81 Mediterranean Sea deaths of irregular migrants or refugees were recorded. Five of those deaths were in Western Mediterranean waters off Spain and Morocco.

The rest – 76 with a possibility of many more – were recorded in the waters between Italy and Libya. IOM recorded just 26 migrant deaths on Mediterranean Sea lanes during the month of December.

IOM Rome’s Flavio Di Giacomo reported Monday (8 January) that IOM staff gathering testimony of survivors of a shipwreck that occurred Saturday morning determined that 64 people lost their lives after leaving Libya on a rubber dinghy reportedly carrying 150 men, women and children. The Italian Coast Guard Ship ‘Diciotti’ rescued 86 migrants who survived to the incident, while recovering the remains of eight others, with the balance – believed to be 64 people – now lost at sea.

Survivors arriving in the port of Catania, Siciliy, on Monday morning provided the following details of the incident: the migrants left from Garabuli (Libya) after midnight between Friday and Saturday morning. After some eight to nine hours at sea, their over-crowded craft began to take on water. Many panicked and fell into the water.

A Coast Guard ship arrived almost immediately and managed to rescue 86 people while recovering the remains of six women and two men. The migrants on board came mainly from Sierra Leone, Mali, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria.

According to testimony gathered by IOM in Catania, at least five of the missing are children between the ages of two and six. Among the survivors are four 4 children – aged two, three, nine and 10. The three-year-old child, a girl, is said to have lost her mother in the tragedy.

A second incident off the Libyan coast this weekend reportedly claimed the lives of 12 more migrants. IOM Libya’s Christine Petré reported Monday that there was one rescue at sea operation over the weekend in Libyan territory.

She explained: “On Sunday (7 January), 270 migrants (159 men, 53 women, 46 boys and 12 girls) received humanitarian emergency assistance after spending two days at sea off the Libyan coast as they attempted to reach Italy by boat. The surviving migrants received food and water; health and vulnerability needs were attended to at the disembarkation point in Tripoli. The remains of two female bodies were found as well, with the cause of death unknown. According to witnesses, 10 migrants lost their lives at sea prior to the rescue operation.”

Petré later reported on a second operation taking place Monday morning, explaining that 135 migrants (81 men, 49 women, three boys and two girls) were detected off Tripoli, brought to shore and then transferred to Trig al Seka detention centre in Tripoli.

IOM Spain’s Ana Dodevska, also on Monday, reported 379 migrants entered Spain irregularly during the first week of 2018, 170 by sea and 209 by land at Melilla, all if the latter on a single day, Saturday 6 January.
(see charts below)

IOM Spain reported total sea arrivals for 2017 reached 21,791 while land arrivals were 5,995 (divided between Ceuta with 2.018 and Melilla with 3.977).

IOM’s Missing Migrants Project (MMP) in Berlin reported Sseveral new deaths also were reported on the Western Mediterranean route. The body of one migrant was retrieved off the coast of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near Cádiz, Spain, on 4 January. The following day, the Moroccan Navy rescued four people and recovered four bodies from a sinking boat near the Tanger-Med cargo port east of Tangiers, Morocco.

IOM Athens’ Kelly Namia reported Monday that at least four incidents occurred off the island of Lesvos, Samos and Chios that required search and rescue operations. The Hellenic Coast Guard rescued 143 migrants, transferring them to those respective islands.

Almost 200 migrants came ashore at Lesvos, Samos and Chios islands on New Year’s Day, and another 250 over the following five days.

Worldwide, IOM’s Missing Migrant Project (MMP) has recorded the deaths of 82 people during migration in the first week of 2018. Deaths recorded in the Mediterranean so far in 2018 total 81 – compared with 11 through the first seven days of 2017.

The Missing Migrants Project recorded 5,382 migrant deaths and disappearances worldwide during 2017. However, several data sources have yet to report numbers of migrant fatalities in certain areas for 2017, meaning that the number of recorded deaths last year is not yet final. (see chart below)

Missing Migrants Project (MMP) data are compiled by IOM staff but come from a variety of sources, some of which are unofficial. To learn more about how data on missing migrants are collected, click here.

Sesheke, Zambia – IOM, the UN Migration Agency and the Government of Zambia are supporting the construction of a protective shelter in the country’s border district of Sesheke to offer a place of safety for vulnerable migrants, particularly women and children, and ultimately ensure that they avoid unnecessary detention.

The shelter will receive referrals of vulnerable migrants and provide them with other much needed services, including healthcare, with a view to finding lasting solutions which may include return to the migrants’ country or place of origin.

Sesheke District, a border town between Zambia and Namibia, is both a source and transit district for migrants moving in what are known as “mixed” flows. These include victims of human trafficking, refugees and asylum seekers, as well as irregular migrants, many of whom need protective support.

“Government will endeavour to provide adequate protection services to vulnerable migrants as they are a marginalised group; we need to protect them and ensure their rights are protected and they have access to adequate protection services,” said Emerine Kabanshi, Minster of Community Development and Social Welfare, during the ground-breaking ceremony of the protective shelter in Sesheke last week (04/01).

The border district presents migration dynamics which are exacerbated by high poverty levels and unemployment, which are ion turn linked to environmental factors such as irregular rainfall patterns.

These harsh realities have forced many Zambians to move to other parts of the country, as well as across borders into neighbouring countries in search of opportunity and a better life. Some, invariably, end up being exploited.

The district also lacks adequate mechanisms for the identification and referral of vulnerable migrants to appropriate services. Coordination among actors is not very strong and many vulnerable migrants, including children, end up in detention facilities due to a lack of available protective services, including shelter.

During the ceremony, the Minister also launched the Zambia Communication Strategy on Mixed Migration and Human Trafficking. Themed “Know Before You Go”, it is designed to ensure that migrants, or potential migrants, possess relevant information and documentation prior to making their move, regardless of intent.

“Prevention of human trafficking requires knowledge and understanding of the trafficking dynamics but among communities of the potential dangers and strategies to migrate safely. In short: Know Before You Go!,” said IOM Zambia Chief of Mission Marianne Lane.

Lane also echoed the words of the IOM Director General, William Lacy Swing, who said: “Migration is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be managed; moreover, migration is inevitable and desirable, if well managed.”

The project is financially supported by the US State Department, Bureau of Population, Refugee and Migration (PRM) and Irish Aid, DFID and the Governments of Sweden and Finland s part of their support to the United Nations Joint Programme on Social Protection (which combines efforts by the ILO, IOM, FAO, WFP and UNICEF).

Aden – During the final days of 2017, IOM, the UN Migration Agency succeeded in completing two movements of stranded Somalis and Ethiopians out of Yemen, despite immense security challenges and difficult sea conditions. Two boats were deployed, one headed to Aden to evacuate Somali refugees, while the other went to Hudaydah to evacuate Ethiopians, who were considered especially vulnerable due to the dangers of rising violence near that port city.

The 27 December operation was the 19th assisted voluntary humanitarian return conducted by IOM out of the city of Aden sea port, taking 138 Somali men, women and children home in cooperation with UNHCR. With this final movement in 2017, IOM Yemen helped a total of 2,241 Somali refugees through its sub-office in Aden. The total number of Ethiopian migrants helped return home through Hudaydah seaport via Djibouti reached 746 people during 2017.

It took several attempts to move a second group, some 71 Ethiopians, all occurring within days of the Somali movement. Complications beyond the control of IOM delayed the movement until 31 December but at 4:30 PM on New Year’s Eve, an IOM boat successfully left for Djibouti.

The next morning (1/01/2018), maritime authorities informed IOM that heavy waves near Djibouti would prevent the continuation of the voyage, forcing IOM’s vessel to return to international waters near Yemen. Later that afternoon, authorities informed IOM its boat could set back on its course, ending what had become a long ordeal.

“It was very challenging to conduct movements out of Hudaydah seaport due to the security threats that are present in Yemen’s northern Governorates. Those require us to liaise with different counterparts and authorities as well as the coalitions,” said Hanan Hajori, of IOM Yemen’s Assistance and Protection unit in the Hudaydah sub-office.

Without such permission, return assistance might not happen. In addition, due to rough seas and weather a number of movements had to be cancelled several times. “At the end, migrants in Hudaydah were taken out safely despite of all these challenges,” Hajori added.

While most UN agencies deal with the challenges that come with shortages in funding, IOM Yemen’s additional concern lies in the paramount issue of the safety of migrants and refugees while they are in IOM’s care.

Providing food, shelter and medical assistance are key aspects of IOM’s operations. IOM must also deal with complex security situations and volatile changes on the ground that can derail weeks of preparations in a matter of seconds. Keeping up with a heavy demand for operational efficiency as well as psychosocial efforts to lift the spirits of the people under IOM care requires working day and night to effectively help migrants so they may reach their final destination safely.

“This process usually takes from five to six hours, if everything is going smoothly,” said Rabih Sarieddine, an IOM official directing the sea-borne operations. “Nevertheless, on many occasions, the movement can be delayed for hours due to security matters, such as poor coordination between the security cells on the ground and the coalition, or due to lack of resources at a port, say, where a captain isn’t available.”

None of these are easy passages. Embarkation at a collection/transit centre generally starts in the early morning hours before buses can move to a port. There, beneficiaries go through security and immigration checks, after which the IOM team begins assisting beneficiaries onto their vessel.

A journey from Aden to Berbera typically takes between 12 and 15 hours, depending on the sea conditions, Sarieddine explained.

Cox's Bazar – This week, Rohingya refugees were still arriving in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh – the New Year bringing no end to the reports of violence and fears, which forced them to flee their homes in Myanmar.

A major upsurge of violence in Northern Rakhine State, Myanmar, in late August 2017 forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. Over 2,400 refugees are estimated to have arrived in Bangladesh during December 2017, with more people continuing to arrive each day as 2018 begins. While the number of daily arrivals has dropped significantly since the height of the influx, many of those now reaching Bangladesh say they faced additional challenges, which delayed their escape.

“We couldn’t leave before now because our village was surrounded. A month ago my two sons were slaughtered. They went out fishing and they were killed,” said 50-year-old Ahmed, who was one of the first to arrive in Bangladesh in 2018 along with his two daughters, aged 20 and 18, and his 15-year-old son.

He said that the family had endured weeks of fear in their village in Rathedaung, Rakhine, unable to leave their house even to collect firewood. Ahmed said that they had to pay a bribe of 150,000 kyat (c.USD $112) to the neighbours, who had been threatening them, to be allowed to leave.

On arrival at the Balukhali settlement in Cox’s Bazar, Ahmed and his remaining family received medical check-ups and shelter kits of ropes, tarpaulins and basic household goods to enable them to create a place to live in the sprawling camps where 655,000 other refugees have sought safety since August.

“I feel safe here,” said Ahmed’s 18-year-old daughter Raysuana, who said her mother had died years ago and her father had worked hard to bring up his family alone as a widower.

As they waited at the arrival point in Balukhali, a puddle of water fell through a section of the tarpaulin roof. The unexpected noise left Ahmed badly shaken. “We continue to see a great deal of distress among Rohingya survivors arriving in Bangladesh," said Olga Rebolledo, IOM’s mental health and psycho-social support coordinator in Cox's Bazar. "They have faced a lot of adversity and many are in need of psycho-social support to help restore a sense of safety and further strengthen the resilience they’ve already shown,” added Rebolledo.

As an indication of why some of the new arrivals have reached Bangladesh so many weeks after the main influx, out of the 17 families waiting to be led to their new shelter sites by IOM, the UN Migration Agency, on 4 January, ten were declared “extremely vulnerable” cases: mostly single mothers, widows or people with disabilities, who will struggle to build their own shelters or even survive without the additional support, which will be provided by IOM and partner organizations. IOM guided the "extremely vulnerable" new arrivals to the less congested part of the site, where they will live, helping carrying their shelter kits. Once they got to the new site, help was given to construct their shelters.

“The houses on both sides of ours [in Buthidaung, Rakhine] were burned. Only my house was left,” said one of the new arrivals, Asama Begum, 35 years old. Her husband died before the violence, leaving her with a new baby and a son now 15 years old. She said the teenager was attacked a few months earlier leaving him with a badly cut leg, which became infected and swollen, rendering him unable to escape when others fled their village. “I stayed because my son was sick. We were really scared to be alone in the house, but tried just to find the mental strength to stay. But then [people] started burning down the [remaining] empty houses around ours and we could not stay any longer," said Asama.

She said she paid someone to carry her son to safety.

“After moving from one country to another, at least, we are getting this shelter. It is so peaceful here. We weren’t even allowed to stand freely in our own country so getting this means a lot,” she said as she stood looking out at the shelter she was about to move into.

Nearby, Ahmed was about to become her new neighbour. Initially anxious about how he would clear the ground on which he would build his shelter, he relaxed after IOM partner’s site management volunteers put him in touch with the maji camp leader who was able to lend him tools.

“It will be peaceful here. No one chasing or torturing us. No fear of death. I witnessed my daughter tortured and my sons slaughtered. I will never go back. I’d rather die here,” said Ahmed.

Since the crisis began in late August 2016:

IOM has reached more than 620,000 individuals with shelter kits

IOM case workers have identified 14,361 extremely vulnerable individuals in need of additional support and more than 3,830 people have received psychological first aid

IOM health workers have reached more than 150,000 patients with primary health care

IOM volunteers help people recognized as “extremely vulnerable” to carry shelter kits from the IOM arrival point at Balukhali to their new shelter site at Cox’s Bazar on 4 January 2018. Photo: Fiona MacGregor/UN Migration Agency (IOM)

Asama Begum, a widowed mother of two recently arrived from Bangladesh, looks out as IOM volunteers help her construct a shelter at a new shelter site in Cox’s Bazar on 4 January 2018. Photo: Fiona MacGregor//UN Migration Agency (IOM)

Geneva – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, reports that 171,635 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea during 2017, with just under 70 per cent arriving in Italy and the remainder divided between Greece, Cyprus and Spain. This compares with 363,504 arrivals across the region through the same period last year.

Mediterranean Developments

IOM Rome reported Thursday (4 January) that, according to Ministry of Interior figures, 119,310 men, women and children arrived by sea as irregular migrants to Italy last year, the lowest total in four years, or since the Mediterranean migrant emergency began. IOM has been compiling arrival data across the Mediterranean since 2014 (see chart below).

IOM Athens’ Kelly Namia reported Thursday that over the last 12 days of 2017, the Hellenic Coast Guard reported at least 10 incidents requiring search and rescue operations off the islands of Lesvos, Samos, Chios and Rhodes. The Coast Guard rescued a combined 320 migrants and transferred them to these respective islands.

Namia said that a total of 795 irregular migrants entered Greece by sea during this same period, although on three of those days no migrants were detected entering. The busiest day of the period was New Year’s Eve, when 217 migrants came ashore on Samos and Lesvos. Christmas Eve was also busy; 177 migrants came ashore at Lesvos on 24 December, the second busiest day of the period.

Overall, 2,574 migrants entered Greece by sea during December, bringing the 2017 total on the Eastern Mediterranean route to 29,595. As with the Central Mediterranean route to Italy, this was the lowest total IOM has recorded in four years (see chart below).

IOM’s Missing Migrants Project (MMP) has reported 3,116 deaths in the Mediterranean during 2017, not including at least two deaths recorded in late December, when one body was recovered on the coast of Libya and an 18-month-old child reportedly drowned off Turkey.

­­­Worldwide, IOM’s MMP recorded the deaths of 5,376 people during migration between 1 January and 31 December 2017. This total includes 128 migrant deaths recorded in 2017just in Pima County, Arizona. The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner recorded159 deaths in 2016. Despite that lower figure, fatalities along the US-Mexico border remained high in 2017, with 369 recorded, or just over one per day. The total for 2016 was 396.

A total of 714 migrant deaths were recorded across the Americas in 2016, a figure that dropped in 2017 by 15 per cent to 607. One major factor in the drop: IOM has so far not recorded any confirmed fatalities during migration anywhere in South America in 2017 (compared with 32 in 2016) – despite receiving unconfirmed reports of Venezuelan migrants dying last year in accidents in Ecuador, Brazil and Chile. In the current crisis, Venezuelans consider each of those states destination countries, where many are able to enter through regular channels, without needing to use secret routes that often prove dangerous. That makes it harder to classify deaths en route as occurring “during migration,” especially if the migrants are traveling commercially, essentially as tourists mixing with the local population.

This past year also witnessed significantly less irregular movement across South America by Haitians and Cubans. That also may account for the drop in confirmed deaths. Haitians and Cubans, however, did perish in greater numbers in 2017 at sea. IOM recorded 156 migrant drownings in the Caribbean in 2017, compared with 105 in 2016.

At the same, other parts of the world proved more deadly than in previous years, for people trying to migrate. IOM recorded more than triple the number of migrant deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 387 men, women and children died in 2017, compared with 92 migrant fatalities in 2016. Southeast Asia also saw a rise – although not as sharp – to 298 deaths in 2017, compared with 187 in 2016. In the Middle East in 2017, IOM recorded 214 migrant deaths, an even 100 over the same period in 2016, when 114 migrant deaths were recorded (see chart below).

Europe also proved deadlier in 2017 than the year before – with 94 deaths recorded compared with 62 in 2016. During the days 21-29 December, four young men died while trying to migrate within Europe. Near Calais, France, a 15-year-old Afghan male was hit by a truck on 21 December, and an Eritrean man was crushed inside a truck on 29 December near that same location. On 27 December, a migrant in his twenties died when he fell off a vehicle on a motorway in southern France. On 28 December, the remains of a fourth migrant were recovered on the Greek side of the Evros River, which comprises the border with Turkey.

The global total of recorded migrant deaths for 2017 – 5,376 – is well below (by precisely one-third) 2016’s total of 7,932.

Nonetheless, IOM’s researchers caution that a number of global data sources – including local medical examiners, NGOs and police departments – have yet to produce reports with total numbers of migrant fatalities for 2017. That means the number of recorded migrant deaths in 2017 is likely to increase.

One migrant death has already been recorded by IOM in 2018. On 3 January, a man who had drowned trying to cross the Rio Bravo from Mexico into the United States was recovered near Tamaulipas.

Missing Migrants Project data are compiled by IOM staff but come from a variety of sources, some of which are unofficial. To learn more about how data on missing migrants are collected, click here.

Sarajevo –IOM, the United Nations Migration Agency, is responding to increased numbers of migrants crossing into Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The latest arrivals originate mostly from North Africa, through Greece, Albania, and neighboring Montenegro.

The numbers are small in global terms, but nationally significant. Border police detained 735 irregular migrants in 2017, compared with fewer than 100 in all of 2016.

“This has put the capacity of the relevant authorities and national aid agencies such as the Red Cross under strain,” said Peter Van der Auweraert, IOM’s sub-coordinator for the Western Balkans. “In line with our mandate as the UN Migration Agency, we’ve been helping the Red Cross in Trebinje to provide on-arrival support to migrants through the purchase of food, hygienic products and clothing.”

To cope with additional arrivals, IOM has also increased the staffing of its migrant protection teams in East Sarajevo and Mostar. They are IOM’s first line responders and, when needed, provide transport and medical and psychosocial assistance, especially to vulnerable migrants.

IOM has recruited a translator for Arabic language to assist authorities to communicate with the new arrivals and an on-call doctor in Trebinje to ensure that those in need have access to medical support.

“It is crucial to treat each migrant with dignity and respect for their basic human rights, including their right to claim asylum in BiH,” added Van der Auweraert. “This is why we are reinforcing our migrant protection teams, as they play a critical role in supporting authorities with assessing needs and ensuring access to the appropriate assistance.”

Migrants arrive cold, hungry and completely disoriented. Most are single men, but some, like Rawad (name changed to protect his identity) come with their entire family. “We sold everything we had for 5,000 euros and moved on towards Europe through Greece, Albania, reaching Bosnia on 28 December. During the trip the person who smuggled us across the border with Montenegro to Bosnia suddenly asked for additional 2,000 euros on top of the 5,000 we already paid, which we didn’t have. The smuggler destroyed our passports and dropped us out in the open somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Bosnia.”

“The smuggler destroyed our passports and dropped us in the mountains”By Ismar Milak

While the world’s attention is drawn to the plight of migrants and refugees in Asia and Africa, a small but significant number of irregular migrants continue to arrive in central European countries like Bosnia and Herzegovina, placing huge strains on local authorities.

Rawad (name changed to protect his identity) is one of 735 irregular migrants who crossed into Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2017. He arrived just a few days ago, with his wife, one adult son and four young sons and daughters.

“We are from Syria, from a small town we had to flee about five years ago,” he begins.

“My family found refuge in Aleppo and stayed there until one month ago, when we decided to leave, being in fear for the lives of our children. On top of everything, one of my sons is asthmatic, while my daughter is sick too.”

“We sold everything we had for 5,000 euros and moved on towards Europe through Greece, Albania and Macedonia, reaching Bosnia on 28 December. During the trip,” he continues after taking a short gasp, “the person who smuggled us across the border with Montenegro to Bosnia suddenly asked for an additional 2,000 euros to the 5,000 we already paid, which we didn’t have. The smuggler destroyed our passports and dropped us out in the open somewhere in the mountains of Eastern Bosnia.

“It was hard before too, but this is where true ordeal started; we spent four nights in the mountains, exposed to extreme cold with nothing to support us. We were later told that the mountains and places which we passed through were likely to be covered in landmines and that we were very lucky for making it here. Our youngest daughter is traumatized. I truly don’t know how we survived this.”

The family was eventually found by local police in Pale, a small town not far from the capital Sarajevo, exhausted, terrified and hungry. One of the possessions found on them was a plastic bag with their chopped and torn passports. Since the state migrant facilities are full due to the increased influx, the IOM migrant protection team was asked to assist.

They provided the family with emergency psychological checkups and accommodation in one of Sarajevo’s hotels, where they are still located and recovering.

Recognizing the close escape Rawad’s family had in the mine-pocked mountains, IOM and the Red Cross are preparing information materials and maps identifying the areas in BiH that remain covered with minefields, following the war in the 1990s. “Migrants are not aware of this danger,” says Peter Van der Auweraert, IOM’s representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina. “While there have been no incidents so far, it is important to ensure that it remains this way, as some of the areas through which migrants are traveling are highly dangerous.”

IOM’s response was provided through the Direct Assistance activity of the project Enhancing Capacities and Mechanisms to Identify and Protect Vulnerable Migrants, funded by the US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM).

Ismar Milak is a programme officer with IOM Bosnia and Herzegovina.

IOM is also increasing its capacity to offer migrants who want to return home Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) through its migrant protection teams who can help in obtaining of the necessary travel and identity documents, a return flight ticket and financial assistance at the beginning and the end of the return process.

Van der Auweraert does not believe that the country is on the cusp of a large influx of migrants and refugees, but states: “Together with UNHCR and its other UN partners, IOM will continue to work with the asylum and migration authorities to ensure that they can manage the continued arrival of small groups of migrants and refugees, also through the readmission as it is currently in place with Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia.”

IOM’s Libya Mission will continue on January 8 chartered flights taking vulnerable migrants detained in Libya back to their homelands, a programme that resulted in 19,370 stranded Third Country Nationals leaving primarily the Tripoli area in 2017.

The UN Migration Agency’s next charter is set for Monday 8 January, when around 180 Nigerian nationals are scheduled to be assisted under VHR to Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city and commercial hub. That flight will bring to close to 20,000 the number of migrants IOM has escorted home from Libya since the beginning of 2017.

IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) has identified 432,574 migrants in Libya, mainly in the Tripoli, Misrata and Almargeb regions, and estimates the number of migrants to be between 700,000 and one million.

Some 11,074 migrants have gone back to their home countries since IOM scaled up its efforts to facilitate the help for migrants interested in return assistance from Libya following the unrest in Sabratha in the beginning of October. The top four countries of return in 2017 were: Nigeria, Gambia, Guinea Conakry and Mali with a charter to Nigeria on 29 December marking the last VHR movement in 2017.

Blinking as they stepped into the sunlight, 301 migrants were escorted from Libya’s detention centers last month to take what would be the first of a series of flights that would see them safely home in Nigeria and Guinea by day’s end. Thus, ended an odyssey which began over a year ago for some of the migrants who left home full of the hope of making a fresh start in Europe.

Escorted by IOM officials, the migrants left Zwara detention center early Wednesday 27 December, taking small planes between the Libyan cities of Zwara and Misratah. In a highly complex operation, fraught with security issues, the migrants were then flown home via charter flights to Lagos and Conakry.

All the migrants volunteered to be returned home by IOM, the UN Migration Agency, rather than face an uncertain future, including lengthy periods in detention and with the potential for abuse from traffickers and smugglers in Libya. It is not known how many have suffered whilst in Libya.

At the Gbessia International Airport in Conakry, the returnees were welcomed by representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs, youth and youth employment, and social affairs and protection.

Among the Guinean returnees was a young man named Moussa. “Look at this,” he said, showing a bullet scar on his calf. “Someone fired at me while I was running in the desert, because it was impossible for me to be caught, I was running so fast.”

“I came to welcome my friends, my little brothers,” said Kabinet, a returnee who had spent two years in prison in Libya, where he was also subjected to violence.

“I’m a sort of big brother. That’s why I thought it would be good for me to see [the returnees] when they got off the plane,” he explained. “In Libya, I worked under harsh conditions in a factory. We had different dreams, to play football in Europe, to take care of our families. We now hope to open a small cleaning business. There seems to be another desert to cross but we will give it all.”

Upon arrival to Conakry, the returnees received travel kits of toiletries and snacks; the most vulnerable migrants received psychosocial support, as well. All migrants also received a “pocket money” allowance of €50 to cover their immediate needs such as transportation, clothing and housing once they arrived. Each was transported to a local transit center to spend the night (upon request), receiving additional meals in the process.

In the wake of shocking reports about rampant migrant abuse and squalid and overcrowded conditions across multiple detention centers in Libya, talks at the AU-EU Summit in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire from to 29 to 30 November, led to a major revamping of measures to tackle smuggling and mistreatment of migrants on the central Mediterranean migration route, which has claimed 2,833 migrant lives to drowning this year alone. Leaders from both regions committed to work together to end the inhumane treatment of migrants and refugees in Libya. Another issue discussed at the summit was how to address jointly the root causes of irregular migration.

For the past year, the return of migrants has been funded by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund and the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration - US Department of State (PRM)

Blinking as they stepped into the sunlight, 301 migrants were escorted from Libya’s detention centers this week to take what would be the first of a series of flights that would see them safely home in Nigeria and Guinea by day’s end. Thus ended an odyssey which began months earlier when the migrants left home full of the hope of making a fresh start in Europe.

All the migrants volunteered to be returned home by IOM, rather than face an uncertain future, including lengthy periods in detention with the potential for abuse from traffickers and smugglers in Libya. It is not known how many suffered abuse while in detention or while en route.

Escorted by IOM officials, the migrants left Zwara detention center early Wednesday 27 December, taking small planes between the Libyan cities of Zwara and Misratah. In a highly complex operation, fraught with security issues, the migrants were then flown home via charter flights to Lagos and Conakry.

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, is scaling up efforts to evacuate migrants from Libya and help them reach their home countries under the Voluntary Humanitarian Return Assistance (VHR). In addition to the Nigeria and Guinea flights, on Thursday (28/12), another charter flight carrying 170 returnees landed in Bamako, Mali.

In the wake of shocking reports about rampant migrant abuse and squalid and overcrowded conditions across multiple detention centers in Libya, talks at the AU-EU Summit in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire from to 29 to 30 November, led to a major revamping of measures to tackle smuggling and mistreatment of migrants on the central Mediterranean migration route, which has claimed 2,833 migrant lives to drowning this year alone. Leaders from both regions committed to work together to end the inhumane treatment of migrants and refugees in Libya. Another issue discussed at the summit was how to address jointly the root causes of irregular migration.

So far in 2017, 18,803 returnees have been assisted under the VHR programme. That number is expected to reach 19,000 migrants by the end of this month. Close to 6,000 migrants have returned to their countries of origin since the evacuation phase started on 28 November.

At the Gbessia International Airport in Conakry, the returnees were welcomed by representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs, youth and youth employment, and social affairs and protection.

Among the Guinean returnees was a young man named Moussa. “Look at this, ” said Moussa, showing a bullet scar on his calf. “Someone fired at me while I was running in the desert, because it was impossible for me to be caught, I was running so fast.”

“I came to welcome my friends, my little brothers,” said Kabinet, a returnee who had spent two years in prison in Libya, where he was also subjected to violence.

“I’m a sort of big brother. That’s why I thought it would be good for me to see [the returnees] when they got off the plane,” he explained. “In Libya, I worked under harsh conditions in a factory. We had different dreams, to play football in Europe, to take care of our families. We now hope to open a small cleaning business. There seems to be another desert to cross but we will give it all.”

Upon arrival to Conakry, the returnees received travel kits of toiletries and snacks; the most vulnerable migrants received psychosocial support, as well. All migrants also received a “pocket money” allowance of €50 to cover their immediate needs such as transportation, clothing and housing once they arrived. Each was transported to a local transit center to spend the night (upon request), receiving additional meals in the process.

IOM has identified 432,574 migrants in Libya, mainly in the Tripoli, Misrata and Almargeb regions, and estimates the number of migrants to be more than 700,000 and up to 1 million.

For the past year, the return of migrants has been funded by the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF), the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, The UN’s Central Emergency.

Baghdad - In cooperation with Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, IOM Iraq held a conference on 20 December on Community Policing in Ninewa Governorate, which aims to promote cooperation between law enforcement agencies and community members towards peace and security.

Ninewa was deeply affected by the occupation by ISIL and associated conflict, with heavy damage to its infrastructure – especially in its capital Mosul – and extensive displacement, with more than 941,000 individuals still displaced across the governorate.

In 2016, with funding from the German Federal Foreign Office, IOM Iraq started the project to strengthen community policing in retaken areas of Ninewa and other conflict-affected areas in Iraq. This is done through the establishment of Community Policing Forums (CPFs) which are inclusive platforms that involve police officers, local leaders, civil society organization representatives and community members, where citizens can raise and discuss their security concerns. CPFs identify and develop initiatives that lead to safer communities, protect the most vulnerable and enhance cooperation, transparency and mutual trust between these actors. CPF members analyze the available resources in their respective communities and assess the ability of a wide range of actors to find solutions to situations that are potentially dangerous and harmful. As such, CPFs are tools for conflict prevention.

The conference followed a series of activities in November and December that included the establishment of five new CPFs in Ninewa and training for more than 400 individuals, including police officers, community members and civil society representatives, on applying community policing in a context of post-conflict returns.

The conference was preceded by a three-day workshop exploring the role of women in security dialogue. Over 80 women and men from across Iraq participated, including police, civil society representatives and the community members, to discuss the impact of gender-based violence on community security, the role of women in violent extremism and how women and children affiliated with ISIL should be treated. Workshop participants formed working groups on these topics, and discussed how to implement action plans developed in the event.

The Community Policing conference on Ninewa was held in Baghdad and was attended by government officials, notably Mr. Saad Maan, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior and the Head of Community Police Directorate, Brigadier General Khalid Al Mhannah, NGO staff and CPF representatives from Mosul, Fallujah and Baghdad.

Brigadier General Saad Maan, spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior, thanked the German Government, IOM and guests for their efforts in support of the CP model. “We have been working very hard to put Iraqi citizens first. There will be no sustainable security in the governorates unless citizens are part of it, and that is exactly the foundation of this initiative, by strengthening community policing forums across the country, especially in Ninewa. We have achieved great results in stabilizing the country thanks to the cooperation with our international partners,” said Saad Maan.

Speakers also included CPF members from Al-Amiriat Al-Fallujah and Mosul (Baasheka), police officers, community members and civil society organization representatives, who introduced and discussed the successes and challenges of the CPFs in Ninewa. The conference gave CPF members the opportunity to network and share experiences.

“The sharing of experiences, successes and challenges of Community Policing Forums in retaken areas will help us to improve the next phase of this project and build on mutual trust that has been established”, said IOM Iraq Chief of Mission Gerard Waite.

“I am very grateful for the cooperation between the government of Iraq and Germany on this Community Policing project,” said Dr. Cyrill Nunn, German Ambassador to Iraq. “We have high hopes that the success of the project can contribute to the much-needed reconciliation and stabilization in Iraq,” added the Ambassador, highlighting the valuable contribution of CPFs for the stabilization of the Iraqi social fabric.

A total of 66 CPFs have been established across Iraq; of which 42 with the support of IOM Iraq; the other 24 have been independently established by local police and communities.
The "Community Policing in Iraq" booklet features stories from Community Policing Forums, and the community members who have received assistance through them. To access the booklet click here.

Sana’a—Thetwo-and-a-half-year-old conflict in Yemen has left a catastrophe. The crisis has continued to deteriorate following last month’s escalation of fighting in the north, as well as explosions in the south.

Essential services have collapsed and approximately 75 per cent of Yemenis need humanitarian assistance. A cholera outbreak has affected 21 of the 22 Governorates, while only 50 per cent of health facilities remain functioning in the country.

Famine has also increased the suffering of the war-torn country’s population with an estimated 7.3 million people, including 2.4 million children under five, in need of urgent life-saving food assistance.

IOM staff has been prevented from leaving their homes during this period, and their capacity to reach people in desperate need of humanitarian aid has been greatly affected. Access continues to be a major issue, as several main roads remain blocked. Fuel shortages have also limited the humanitarian community's ability to transport aid.

“The world has almost never seen something as grave as the humanitarian crisis in Yemen,” said William Lacy Swing, UN Migration Agency Director General. “With such a complex situation in the country, reaching people in need – both Yemenis and migrants – is a priority for all IOM at all levels. Despite the deteriorated security situation and challenges on the ground, IOM is still operating across all the 22 Governorates of the country but if the situation continues to worsen I am not sure we will be able to protect the lives we are now for much longer,” said DG Swing.

Since the start of December, IOM has provided nearly 20,600 medical consultations to internally displaced peoples and other conflict-affected Yemenis via 22 mobile health teams and two permanent health facilities. These provide life-saving emergency healthcare. Some 3,231 people have received psychosocial support through IOM individual and group sessions. IOM’s mobile health teams also have been able to reach children and lactating women in the remote areas where services have been destroyed or absent.

“The security situation is unstable, forcing us to change our implementation plans weekly,” said Said Mageed Alkaladi, IOM Senior Emergency Operations Assistant, a Yemeni humanitarian worker in the South. “We always search for new ways to reach people most in need with aid. A big part of this is speaking with the affected communities regularly to find the best way to implement and to meet their needs. We are part of these communities and we stand accountable to meet the needs in a timely manner despite all the challenges,” said Alkaladi.

Access to clean water and safe sanitation is closely linked to improving the dire health situation in Yemen. To complement its healthcare support, IOM is providing water chlorination, water trucking, solid waste management, distribution of cholera/hygiene kits and hygiene awareness sessions. Over the past few weeks, IOM has rehabilitated water sites, increasing access to safe drinking water for people in Lahj, Abyan and Shabwa Governorates.

Through its Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), IOM monitors the needs of conflict-affected Yemenis. The data is used to tailor the humanitarian communities’ response to the crisis. One of the greatest needs found among those displaced in the country is shelter.

Over the past three weeks, IOM was able to distribute around shelter and relief kits, which include materials to build or reinforce shelters, ensuring that over 5,600 families in the northern Governorates of Taizz, Ibb, Hajja and Amran had a roof over their heads. This month, IOM has also helped 45 displaced families relocate from 11 schools and build safe shelters to live in, while then renovating the schools so that they are back in use by teachers and students.

Although Yemen is facing one of the gravest humanitarian crises in the world, around 80,000 migrants have entered the country from January to October this year. These migrants usually hope to transit through the Yemen to reach the countries beyond, but often find themselves trapped at the conflict’s front lines in a dire need of protection and lifesaving assistance.

Through its two Migrant Response Points in Aden and Al-Hudaydah, as well as its patrolling teams along the Yemeni coast, IOM is supporting stranded migrants by providing aid and humanitarian return assistance.

Over the past three weeks, more than 4,100 migrants received medical assistance through IOM health facilities, in addition to 1,100 migrants who received psychosocial support.
Last week, IOM, in coordination with UNHCR, helped 150 Somali refugees return home through the port of Aden. Tomorrow (23/12), IOM expects to help an additional 100 Ethiopian migrants leave Yemen’s conflict through the port of Houdaida.

Many of those living within the displacement camp in Lahij, Yemen have fled from nearby govenorates where the ongoing civil war has been spreading into their neighborhoods. File photo: Muse Mohammed / UN Migration Agency (IOM) 2017

Geneva — There are specific risk factors associated with increased migrant vulnerability to exploitation, violence, abuse and human trafficking, according to a new report published yesterday (21/12) by IOM, the UN Migration Agency.

While other IOM reports have documented the scale of exploitation on the main migration routes to Europe, this report is the first to identify key factors associated with increased vulnerability to exploitation and human trafficking during the journey. The data comes from IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM).

“The findings contribute to our understanding of the factors that contribute to migrants’ vulnerability to abuse, exploitation and trafficking,” said Anh Nguyen, IOM Head of Migrant Assistance Division. “It improves the evidence available for policymakers to better identify and protect vulnerable migrants on their journeys, in line with IOM’s determinants of migrant vulnerability model,” he added.

“This report illustrates the kind of analysis that can be done with a unique set of survey data collected by IOM. The Displacement Tracking Matrix plays a key role in providing a better understanding of the movements and evolving needs of mobile populations along the major migration corridors,” said Nuno Nunes, DTM Global Coordinator.

The analysis found that migrants travelling the Central Mediterranean route are more vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking than migrants on the Eastern Mediterranean route, even when they share similar demographic and journey characteristics.

Moreover, West Africans are more vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation than migrants from other countries. In general, the presence of conflict in the country of departure predicts a higher vulnerability to exploitation and human trafficking on the journey. Individuals who travel alone are more vulnerable than migrants who travel in groups. Also, the longer or costlier their journey, the more likely it is that migrants will be exploited along the way. Male migrants are more likely to experience forced and unpaid labour, or being held against their will, than female migrants.

The report also found that the factors that predict child migrants’ vulnerability to human trafficking and exploitation are similar to the factors associated with adult migrants’ vulnerability. In addition, migrants report that Libya is particularly unsafe; this is a major driver of onward migration towards what they perceive to be safer destinations.

This IOM analysis provides practical recommendations for improved programming along the main migration routes to Europe. These include the early identification and protection of all vulnerable migrants, taking into account the different risks that men, boys, women and girls may face during their journeys, and the different types of exploitation they may be subject to.

To learn more about IOM’s Vulnerability Framework and the DTM, please click here

Cox’s Bazar - On Christmas day it will be four months since the start of the influx of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh. Latest figures show 655,000 people have arrived in that period, bringing the estimated total number of Rohingya in Cox’s Bazaar to 867,500.

IOM’s newly-released Needs and Population Monitoring (NPM) Round 7 assessed 1,635 locations hosting Rohingya refugees in collective sites and host communities. Key findings are that 73 percent of the refugees are living in new spontaneous settlements, 13 percent in makeshift settlements, 9 percent in host community locations and 5 percent in the formal refugee camps. Compared to the previous round, there has been a reduction in the proportion of refugees in host community locations and an increased proportion residing in collective sites.

As winter takes hold, IOM and its partners are scaling up their distribution of shelter and non-food items in response to the colder weather. In the past fortnight, distributions have included over 88,500 blankets and emergency shelter materials, including bamboo bundles for over 1,500 families. To date, IOM has distributed 124,000 tarpaulins, benefitting some 563,000 new arrivals. Some 32,000 people have also received other non-food relief items.

IOM is also supporting the Rohingya and the affected local population with water, hygiene and sanitation. Some 1,400 cubic metres of clean drinking water have been trucked into spontaneous settlements with limited access to water and over 68,000 people have received hygiene kits. Some 1,500 emergency latrines have been constructed to date, supporting 75,000 individuals. Some 29 deep tube wells have been completed and are functional.

To respond to an ongoing diphtheria outbreak, in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and WHO, IOM is supporting a vaccination campaign for children under six, with community workers and support for vaccination teams on the ground. IOM has also constructed three 40-bed isolation and treatment centres to urgently increase case management and bed capacity and supporting contact tracing at several locations.

As part of its ongoing response to gender-based violence (GBV) and to combat human trafficking, IOM and its partners are offering group support, including information about trafficking risks, and individual counselling sessions for female refugees in specially constructed safe spaces. Women and adolescent girls who visit the spaces can take part in recreational and psychosocial activities.

IOM social workers have already identified 14,340 extremely vulnerable individuals. Some 409 individuals who faced GBV have been assisted through IOM’s case management; 3,720 have received psychological first-aid; and 1,666 have been provided with health referrals.

IOM has also organized workshops run by counter trafficking experts for police and military working in Cox’s Bazar to raise awareness and sensitize them to cases of human trafficking.

Geneva – IOM, the UN Migration Agency, published today (22/12) the report Setting Standards for an Integrated Approach to Reintegration. The report, prepared and conducted by the Samuel Hall think tank, outlines recommendations to support sustainable reintegration of migrants who return to their home countries in the framework of Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) programmes.

The research presented in this report was conducted under the Mediterranean Sustainable Reintegration (MEASURE) Project, funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and managed by the Migrant Assistance Division at IOM Headquarters. MEASURE aimed to foster the sustainability of reintegration interventions through the completion of desk and field research in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iraq, Senegal and Somalia.

This research resulted in a broad set of recommendations to improve reintegration programming. “The report is an important step in connecting the dots in the field of reintegration to build on the existing expertise in different thematic areas: for instance, mental health and psychosocial support, community-based initiatives or partnerships for the creation of jobs and economic opportunities at the local level,” said Nazanine Nozarian, MEASURE Project Manager. “Efforts need to be made to adapt such practice under AVRR programmes and promote their implementation in a systematic and consistent manner,” she added.

The research also led to the development of a set of 15 field-tested indicators relating to the economic, social and psychosocial dimensions of reintegration, which are presented in the report together with a reintegration scoring system, allowing to measure post-return outcomes and to facilitate the understanding of returnees’ progress towards sustainability. These tools will allow IOM and other practitioners to compare trends in returnees’ reintegration across countries and over time.

“IOM is already taking concrete steps to implement the results of the MEASURE project. For instance, the indicators will be used by IOM within EU-funded migrant protection and reintegration initiatives in Africa and in Asia, to foster comparative analysis across regions and countries, and promote evidence-based programming,” added Nozarian.

“Return is never easy nor straightforward. MEASURE findings confirm that reintegration is a complex, multifaceted process, one that not only concerns returnees but also their peers and communities. It is not simply a logistical or economic process, it also requires social and psychosocial support for returnees to feel empowered,” said Nassim Majidi, Co-Director of Samuel Hall. “Implementing the report’s recommendations will require innovative thinking and flexibility from donors and practitioners who will need to invest more time and energy to support each returnee,” highlighted Majidi.

To read the report, please click here. To read more on IOM’s Integrated Approach to Reintegration, please click here.

Hargeisa— IOM, the UN Migration Agency in collaboration with Somaliland’s Ministry of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Reconstruction, Hargeisa Migration Response Centre (MRC), the Ethiopian Community Centre in Hargeisa, the Ethiopian consulate in Somaliland, Somaliland’s Immigration Department and Somaliland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, assisted 68 vulnerable Ethiopian migrants to return home on 6 December 2017.

This Assisted Voluntary Return (AVR) movement was supported by the Regional Mixed Migration Program funded by the US Department of State Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM).

After the 68 migrants were selected, IOM contacted the Ethiopian consulate in Hargeisa to carry out a nationality screening exercise and issue travel documents. The men, women and children were provided temporary shelter, food and onward transportation assistance to their final destinations upon arrival in Ethiopia. IOM missions in Hargeisa and Ethiopia worked together to verify their final destinations. The returnees were flown to Addis Ababa and received at the Bole International Airport by IOM Ethiopia on the same day.

“The IOM AVR programme is an indispensable part of a comprehensive approach to migration management aimed at orderly and humane return of migrants who are unable or unwilling to remain in host or transit countries and wish to return voluntarily to their countries of origin,” said Fesial Mohamud, a Project Officer with IOM Somalia’s Migrant Assistance Division.

There has been an increase in the number of Ethiopians deciding to return home in the recent past, according to the Hargeisa MRC database. The database also reveals that Ethiopian migrants who move to Hargeisa hoping to improve their economic status often opt to return home due to economic and social challenges.

Between January and November 2017, IOM Somalia through the Hargeisa Migration Response Centre (MRC) received over 230 applications for AVR from Ethiopians residing in Hargeisa. Many of the applicants were single mothers and the elderly who said that they would have found it difficult to make the trip home without support.